Southern Sierras Scouting Report, May 2012

     These are the official/ unofficial photos from our scouting mission for the upcoming Southern Sierras BFRO trip. Place names have been edited from some of the photos to help preserve the integrity of the expedition. This is know as "Joker Control" or "Yahoo Reduction." Please enjoy at your leisure. If you are, in fact aware of our target area destination, please refrain from sharing it with anyone and help preserve the integrity of our upcoming and future research. Thanks everyone!

 Get Up early and get some before everyone else does. Weather in the foothills

 

 Nearby formations in the Kern River Drainage. There are several sighting reports from this immediate area. A friend of mine recently had his camp raided by a momma Black Bear and two cubs. Prime habitat for sasquatch combined with a high number of yahoos using the river as a recreation sight combine to create a virtual movie theater for B.F. to investigate observe human activities.

 

 The approach to the target are is breathtaking in the right conditions. Early morning and late afternoon are best for "ooh's and ahh's"

 

 Be prepared for unexpected weather!

A short walk from camp provides views of nearby creek drainages with plenty of photo opportunities.

Yes, we really are pretty insignificant when compared to 2,000+ year old Sequoias. This is the road to and from camp.

 

Again, beauty abounds. Get a wide angle lens if your really want to capture the view in a two dimensional format. Has anyone invented a 3D camera yet?...

Target trail. There are quite a few spots to investigate on this 2 mile loop trail. Expect to cover this location on at least one of the nights. There's a BFRO report from this immediate vicinity.

One of many waterways in the area. This lake is quite popular, but if time permits, we may be able to target one of the more isolated lakes near here.

 

Just another little surprise along the trail. Any botanists in the group?

 

A typical Tule River scene of serenity. Don't forget your rig and creel. There's trout in them' thar' waters.

   

Time for a cool bath

 

 Fertile farmland on the road in (or out depending on your schedule and destination.)

Southern Sierras Trackway Find, May 2012

     Keeping your eyes open and to the ground will occasionally pay off. While exploring a fire road in an underused area near the Kern River we came upon this trackway of 500+ mid-sized Black Bear tracks. A recent snowfall and warmer conditions aided in producing extremely clear prints. It's rare to find so many in a row so we consider this an extremely fortunate find.

     At two points, the tracks left the fire road and veered into a gully. We were able to pick them up about a quarter mile down the road where they rejoined the path before continuing for a bit. After the second time they left the road we found the path blocked by a downed tree and we were forced to turn the truck around.

     The second standard measuring tool, Josh's hand. The primary tool as every bigfooter knows is the size 9 boot. All sarcasm aside it's good to have a lightweight flexible tape. Seamstress tapes work the best. It's pretty rare that you'll find a print over 3' long so they cover just about any situation. Notice how the double prints (fore and hind paw) combine to create the shape of a human-like foot.

Here's a good example of "context". If this half-melted bear print photo was presented on it's own, a more unscrupulous bigfooter could us the ambiguity to their advantage. An isolated photo like this would be more difficult to  discern as coming from a bear. The melt starts to create a more "foot-like" profile. The claw marks have been reduced and there is no scale to show that the combined length of the double print is only about 7". It could be passed off as an "11 x 5" sasquatch footprint" but fortunately we know with the supporting trackway photos that it is a bear print.

If there's a lesson to be presented here, it's that you should shoot any interesting prints from every possible angle bot close up and from afar. Should the photos be presented as evidence, every detail will come into play. Give yourself the ammunition necessary for analysis after the fact.

Also remember that  digital camera viewing screens can be deceiving. What looks like a good photo may in fact be blurry and vice-versa. Shoot more photos than you think are necessary. You never know what you will find when you upload them to your computer.

A little aside...

So sometimes I just need to go. No motivation other than getting into a little crevice of nature to forget about humanity and just breathe. Me, my rig and a backpack.

This was one of those days.

I drove up the old dusty freeway till the road dead ended and humped it up the wellused access path about a mile to a secret nook of a trail. Under the bridge and up the ways a bit...

Start and End here. Where the people are. It's a good place to say goodbye to them.


I surprised a Crane here. It flew up the creek. It seemed like it's wings almost touched the trees on either side.

It never lets you forget it's a desert. We're living in an oasis. Either that or a mirage

People don't let you forget either.

But then you are able to forget again . It always gets better.

If you look closely you can see the hidden lagoon. There were a few along the way. This one was nice but I decided to go on a little farther to check out the next one.

All the sudden I felt like it was far enough. The Hanging Tree signaled the way to my camp.


And here I stopped for the night...

(To Be Continued)